Monday, January 11, 2016

Hey Francis: get real

According to Reuters, the Pope' new books wants to extend mercy to everyone. (not offering repentence and a new life, but merly a green light for whatever you want).

Traditional Catholics have worked with the marginal of society for about 2000 years, but you wouldn't know it from this article. Heck, traditional Catholics have been the marginal in society for 2000 years, but I guess he only addresses the good news of salvation to his fellow intellectuals, not ordinary folks.

But what really worries me: if the article is correct, the Pope is busy lambasting the evil people who dare to try to judge good and evil, and who actually try to live according to their conscience.

Not a good thing.

so let's hear it from a good atheist on what is his problem?

“The evil in the world comes almost always from ignorance, and goodwill can cause as much damage as ill-will if it is not enlightened. People are more often good than bad, though in fact that is not the question. But they are more or less ignorant and this is what one calls vice or virtue, the most appalling vice being the ignorance that thinks it knows everything and which consequently authorizes itself to kill. The murderer's soul is blind, and there is no true goodness or fine love without the greatest possible degree of clear-sightedness.” Camus: The Plague

giving a green light to bad behavior under the guise of mercy is not merciful, because you are letting the bad behavior go on.

So does the Pope want us to ignore the harm done by people who give into their weakness and sin, and then insist they did nothing wrong?

Who defends the victims?

We docs run into this all the time, and try to get our folks into stable relationships, better health habits, and/or rehab. We try to help the family members who suffer morally, financially and emotionally from their sins.

What we don't do is say: Hey, who am I to judge?

So who am I to judge?

Again, Camus:

All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it's up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences.”

and I found the audiobook on Youtube.

it is both interesting from a medical point of view (for those of us who fight sickness against all odds) but it is also an allergory of the moral collapse of France under Nazi occupation, and that a small number of men said now and decided to fight against this "disease"....